Steaming cakes in a ricecooker can be very addictive. After my first attempt at steaming my very first ricecooker cake, I was looking forward to trying out my 2nd ricecooker cake recipe with a lot of excitement and expectation. This recipe, in my opinion, should be an easier recipe simply because it is a chocolate lava cake (also called chocolate pudding cake), meaning that the centre of the cake should be wet and lava-like. So no worries about the cake being semi-cooked, unlike my ricecooker marble cake.
I made this chocolate lava cake at home and brought it to share with some friends and the cake was very well-received and finished within minutes. Nobody believed that it was made using a ricecooker. (Well, in this part of the world where I currently live, the humble ricecooker is not a very common household gadget, in fact I only know 2 other families who have ricecookers at home.)
On the other hand, the banana cake which I tried steaming using the steamer was a complete disaster, and you could tell it from their faces when I offered the cake to my friends, they were too polite to reject it, but still they took a small bite. But kids don't lie in general. When I asked my friends' kids whether the steamed banana cake was lekker (delicious), they said nee (no) and they gave the half-eaten piece of cake back to me. :S
So I concluded that I had better luck steaming a cake using a ricecooker than using a steamer. :)
Recipe adapted from Simply Delicious Food Cooked Simply by Toshiba
Made using a Toshiba RC10L-MI (ricecooker without baking function)
How to make a chocolate lava cake in a rice cooker
Ingredients
I made this chocolate lava cake at home and brought it to share with some friends and the cake was very well-received and finished within minutes. Nobody believed that it was made using a ricecooker. (Well, in this part of the world where I currently live, the humble ricecooker is not a very common household gadget, in fact I only know 2 other families who have ricecookers at home.)
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| One of my friends said that it looked like a space cake! Very futuristic! |
On the other hand, the banana cake which I tried steaming using the steamer was a complete disaster, and you could tell it from their faces when I offered the cake to my friends, they were too polite to reject it, but still they took a small bite. But kids don't lie in general. When I asked my friends' kids whether the steamed banana cake was lekker (delicious), they said nee (no) and they gave the half-eaten piece of cake back to me. :S
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| (Didn't have my big nikon with me, so all photos were taken by my lousy 5-year-old Fuji F50) |
So I concluded that I had better luck steaming a cake using a ricecooker than using a steamer. :)
Recipe adapted from Simply Delicious Food Cooked Simply by Toshiba
Made using a Toshiba RC10L-MI (ricecooker without baking function)
How to make a chocolate lava cake in a rice cooker
Ingredients
3 eggs
200g butter
200g brown sugar (I used white sugar)
200g self-raising flour, sifted
150 g dark chocolate
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder + 2 to 3 tbsp water to make a paste
Method
1. Grease the ricecooker bowl.
2. Melt chocolate over double boiler (or melt it in microwave at HIGH for 1 min) and stir in cocoa paste.
3. In separate bowl, cream butter and sugar (using cake mixer).
4. Add in eggs one at a time, then add chocolate mixture. Mix well.
5. Fold in sifted flour using a spatula.
6. Pour batter in greased ricecooker bowl. Press "COOK" until it beeps. Press "COOK" again (2nd time) till it beeps. Press "RAPID COOK" (3rd time) till it beeps. Allow cake to rest before turning out.
(Whenever my ricecooker has finished cooking, it will beep and switch automatically to "KEEP WARM" mode, so you just have to press "CANCEL" and press "COOK" again. If you don't have the "RAPID COOK" button on your ricecooker, then just pressing "COOK" will do. This is a cake that works in a ricecooker without the "CAKE" baking function, so it should work even if you don't have a japanese automatic ricecooker, such as those manual ones with only one button, as long as you cook for at least 1 hour. )
(Whenever my ricecooker has finished cooking, it will beep and switch automatically to "KEEP WARM" mode, so you just have to press "CANCEL" and press "COOK" again. If you don't have the "RAPID COOK" button on your ricecooker, then just pressing "COOK" will do. This is a cake that works in a ricecooker without the "CAKE" baking function, so it should work even if you don't have a japanese automatic ricecooker, such as those manual ones with only one button, as long as you cook for at least 1 hour. )
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| After 1 hour, see the cake looked quite wet and wobbly in the centre. |
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| After 1 hour 15 min, see the difference? |
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| Cooled and flipped out of the rice pot. |
Notes:
1. Using my Toshiba RC10L-MI ricecooker, I pressed "COOK" until it beeps (29 min), then I pressed "COOK" a second time until it beeps (17 min), finally I pressed "RAPID COOK" until it beeps (14 min). It is amazing how the timings were almost identical to my ricecooker marble cake. Now as this was my first attempt at steaming this chocolate lava cake, I was afraid it might turn out to be too wet that I could not turn out the cake on a plate without the chocolate lava gushing out like a volcano (ok a bit exagerated here), so I erred on the side of caution and pressed "RAPID COOK" (4th time) again after 1 hour was up and that took an extra 15 more minutes, a total of 1 hour 15 minutes. But my worries were unfounded, because the chocolate lava in the centre of the cake kind of hardened by the next day. So I could have stuck to 1 hour and my cake would be wet in the middle and the chocolate lava would ooze out just like a perfect chocolate lava cake. :p
2. Same thing as I have mentioned before in my first ricecooker cake, remember to remove any rice grains from the rice pot and grease it slightly with a little oil or butter or baking spray. The cake should slip out of the pot easily when you invert it. Use a plate to cover the top of the pot before inverting the cake. Do not attempt to loosen and remove the cake using a knife as you will risk damaging the non-stick surface of the rice pot.
3. While the cake is steaming in the ricecooker, do not open and peep. Not until 60 minutes are over. You may use your fingertip to press the centre of the cake to see if it is as firm and springy as the sides. Now since this is a chocolate lava cake, the centre will be very soft and wet, so do not be alarmed. Pricking the centre using a toothpick, and you will find that the toothpick will come out wet, but that is perfectly normal.
I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 - Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012), hosted by none other than myself, Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. :)
Well THIS looks lekker! I'm currently waiting for my spice cake to come out of the rice cooker. If it works and my confidence gets a boost, this will be what I try next. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe cake has just come out of the ricecooker and it is great- perfect for the stressful mid-essay period that I'm in. I used muscavado brown sugar which has given it a pleasant aroma.
ReplyDeleteA quick question though, I would like to have the molten lava cake effect but the top of the cake (when viewed inside the ricecooker) was much too wobbly to take out even after 1hr 15mins - any advice?
Thanks, Victoria
Hi Victoria,
DeleteDoes your cake look like my first pic (after 1h) or second pic (after 1h 15min)?
This is a tricky situation. I realised last time I steamed this cake that the core became harder the next day. If you are not in a hurry, u can loosen the sides but leave it in the pot for few hours before removing, I think the wobbly part will harden a little by then. The other option would be to cut the cake into 2 in the pot, but be careful not to damage the Teflon. The 3rd option would be of cos to invert it and remove it now, but you must loosen the sides then invert it by using your hand to support the wobbly part as you invert it, instead of inverting it directly on a plate bcos it will come crashing down from a few inches down onto the plate and the lava will break and flow out.
Good luck and keep me updated!
Use a toothpick to slightly poke the centre to see how fluid it is. You may want to put it back into the rice cooker and cook for a while, that is your call bcos I dunno what brand and type of rice cooker you are using. If you are confident, let it cool for a while and use your hand to support the wobbly part as you invert it. That was what I did last time.
DeleteSomeone succeeded making my chocolate lava cake :)
ReplyDeletehttp://cooking.livejournal.com/9456082.html
Hi I chanced upon your blog and very impressed with this choco lava cake. I just tried making it but it wasn’t very ‘lava’. No choco oozing out effect.
ReplyDeleteMay I know for step 4, did u mix in the choco mix using the cake mixer?
Did you reheat the ricecooker?
My rice cooker has a “cake” baking function which was about 45 mins…afterwhich it appeared kind of uncooked as I put a skewer in and it came out wet….
So I cook for another 15 mins….which became slightly overcook..thus no wet oozy choco effect.
beaniee
Hi beaniee,
DeleteThanks for your feedback!
I used a cake mixer for step 4, but you can use a hand whisk or spatula as well, just as long as you mix well. The texture of the cake is not due to how you perform this step. As you said, you probably overcooked it using 60 min using cake baking function. I believe the cake baking function is hotter and bakes faster than the cooking function, so 1 hr was probably too long for your cake.
Btw, the cake is supposed to be wet and appears uncooked in the centre. As I mentioned in my blog, it was like that after 1 hr, wet and wobbly and difficult to remove, so I decided to cook for another 15 min, then it became slightly overcooked. Maybe if I had tried an extra 5 to 10 min instead of extra 15 min, it would have a better lava effect. So for your case why dun you try 50 or 55 min using baking function, or even switch it off at 45 min and use the remaining heat to bake it till it is less wet? Every rice cooker is different, so you would have to experiment :)
May I also know what brand of rice cooker are you using? You asked whether I reheat the rice cooker?
DeleteYes, I did, if I understand you correctly. I pressed COOK 4 times. Every time it finished cooking, I would press CANCEL and press COOK again, until 1 hr 15 min. I would say, 1 hour or slightly more than an hour, say 1 hour 5 min, would be enough using the COOK function, although the cake would be wet, wobbly and difficult to remove, but it would have a wet oozy lava effect. For me, 1 hour 15 min was probably too long, the cake was properly cooked and easier to remove, but the lava effect was not so obvious. :)
Btw, I observed that the lava would harden slightly the next day, fyi.
Hi miss b
ReplyDeleteI am using a Philip rice cooker. Sorry I meant preheat.
I will try again at 55min.
Hi beaniee,
DeleteThere is no need to preheat the rice cooker. I suggest you check the cake at 50 min to see how it goes. :)
In order for it to have lava effect, it has to be wet and wobbly in the centre. Just be careful when you flip and turn the cake, use one hand in a kitchen glove to turn the bowl upside down, and use the other hand to reach into the rice bowl and support the cake as you turn it.
Thanks Miss B...will try again
ReplyDeletebeaniee
Hi Miss B,
ReplyDeleteThe "Cook" as in cooking rice mode?
Can i use "Slow Cook" mode with time set at 60 mins?
Cheryl
Hi,
DeleteYes, the "cook" as in rice cooking mode. Which brand of rice cooker are you using? I am not sure about the "slow cook" mode, is that for porridge? Bcos the heat for porridge vs rice is different.
Hi Miss B,
ReplyDeleteI am using Toshiba brand . The slow cook mode is like those slow cooker function.
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl,
DeleteYou would have to use "cook" mode for this recipe, I am not sure how much time it will take using "slow cook" mode, sorry. Maybe you can try and let me know if it works and how long it takes.
But if you want cake recipes using "slow cook" mode, perhaps I can send you the link to the Toshiba recipe manual. :)